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Thursday, August 21, 2014

Boating the South Thompson River

What better
way to spend a sunny summer day than on the beautiful South Thompson River for
a boat ride. We spent many summers doing
this, but those days are past and this day is a great reminder of great family boating days. The view is so different
from here on the river.

Boating on the South Thompson River

We travelled
upriver with family and friends in a couple of boats with the plan to stop on
Banana Island for a picnic and fun.
The sun was shining, the river was calm and the sights were relaxing.

Eagle eye view

The hoodoos and
clay banks line the South Thompson, and create some very interesting shapes as
well as viewpoints. It is more likely
we’d see an eagle in a tree but this one was happy to watch everything from the
bank’s edge. See more eagles here.

Grazing the green grass

The river is
still high the beginning of July but that doesn’t seem to discourage these cattle
from grazing on the riverbank. I’m sure
that green grass is tastier than sagebrush and they’re checking it out.

The Pritchard bridge

Pritchard
Bridge has historic appeal, it is rare that we see anything old anymore,
hopefully it lasts another many years. It has the strength to allow a logging truck
to pass over so it should be. There was
a ferry crossing at this point before the single lane bridge was built.

Historic Pritchard bridge

I have not
found much history for this bridge but it was built in 1920 when sternwheelers
would travel up and down the river, hence the room to pass under. There was also a busy wharf and a train
station here.

An osprey in the nest

We see these
nests on our travels but rarely do we see an osprey in there so this was a
surprise. The river hawk, as they’re
also called, always nest on high platforms near fresh water and live mainly on
fish. They are a large raptor with a
wing span of 180 cm, which is almost 6 ft. Osprey are the only living species
that live nearly worldwide, the only place they are not found is in Antarctica.

Alpaca herd shows little interest

When we
passed by these sheep, we were far enough away to not realize we weren’t
looking at sheep. Photo close-up says
their necks are too long…….I think they are alpacas! Research says they are quiet and peaceful,
hum to one another to communicate and they look pretty darn cute, too!

The bald headed eagle

The bald
headed eagle is such a majestic looking bird and I do not seem to get enough
photos of them, in my humble opinion. (: This one was watching the passers-by and waiting for his lunch to
appear. There are more of this eagle to see
here.

The South
Thompson River offers some great scenery and sights to enjoy. We will never tire of these sights and hope to see them again. There is just no place like home.